I’ll try to keep this rant to food.

I’ve been preaching about the local foods movement and local business in general, not because it is cool but because it trumps the corporate counterparts by the presence of COMPASSION and that their bottom line isn’t the only line they care about. Have you caught any of the articles tattling on the sometimes disgusting antics of Big Ag and Big Food? Did you hear about the company that re-processed gallons of moldy applesauce to ship to schools? Or the countless recalls of E. Coli-tainted meats and vegetables that somehow still manage to get to the public? Maybe you’ve seen these corporate food lies: your “freshly” squeezed orange juice that has actually sat in a vat for up to a year, your meats that get doused with ammonia , the cellulose and other industrial by-products that find their way into more processed food than you would like to know about. Why isn’t this squawked about on mainstream news?

“So what can I do about this and why should I care?” you might say. “Eating healthy / organic / local is too expensive and I don’t have the time / desire / know-how to cook.”

My shopping reflects my values and I vote with my pocketbook. Start small and don’t try to re-invent the wheel in a week. I would rather spend an hour cooking something for my family than watching TV, but that’s me.

Don’t like factory farms? Seek out a local market and shop there. Spending money with local retailers strengthens the community and is a slap in the face of recession. Start a vegetable garden, and share your bounty with your neighbors – defy the “bedroom community” label and chat in person. Know that if we don’t start giving a damn about what we purchase, and where it comes from – that the quality of these things will continue to tank. The rich will get richer from our apathy. Our economy is based almost entirely on us buying stuff, so make every dollar count!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsNUqK6saMU

This video of a farmer addressing the NYC Occupy group nearly got me bawling. I can’t help but feel sickened and a little enraged every time I hear a sound bite about how unorganized the movement is, or the “But what do they stand for?” bullshit. The food lies are as insidious as the lies about “trickle-down economics” – don’t believe the hype. There has been a great interview with Chris Hedges making the rounds that I think hits the mark, and I will leave you with this quote from his book, Losing Moses on the Freeway: The 10 Commandments in America:
“We watch impassively as the wealthy and the elite, the huge corporations, rob us, ruin the environment, defraud consumers and taxpayers and create an exclusive American oligarchy that fuses wealth and political power. We watch passively because we believe we can enter the club. It is greed that inspires us. It is greed that keeps us silent. Our greed is devouring us.”

Cheers-

Dark Martha

Conscious Urban Living

Carriage House Farm

PS – If you are in the Cincy area, and are interested in getting that garden going, join me for my class series coming up in a few weeks.

The doors were locked  and there was no sign of habitation. My first instinct was hope that this was a remodeling that I had missed hearing about, but the feeling in the pit of my stomach was already one of loss. This feeling was confirmed when I ran into Mike, the man who started it, just around the corner. He confirmed that Northslice has closed. I won’t elaborate on what he told me because he was not aware that I write for the public.

I can report that shortly afterwards while we were bemoaning the situation I did overhear conversations to the effect that the building had been sold out from under him. [Edit for Clarity: These were conversations overheard among random customers at Melt, where we had decided to go as our second choice. -Loki] No matter what happened it seems that we have lost the best pizza in Cincinnati. If whoever owns the name and or building reopens under that name it won’t be the same.

My heart goes out to Mike, he seemed crushed. I know I am. This is a horrible loss to the neighborhood and to Cincinnati in general.

As you may recall from my Downtown Grocery post, I’m a big fan of the Mayberry Foodstuffs grocery. While they don’t have enough to completely replace a trip to Kroger, they helped fill in the Downtown grocery void. I usually make a visit once week on my walk home from work and often chat a little with the person working. A couple of weeks ago he notified me that Mayberry will start grocery delivery in the Downtown and OTR areas. I figured business must be good. Sadly today our chat was not as positive as he told me Mayberry Grocery will be closing in late October. When I asked “closing? for good?” he said yes, unfortunately business has not been good enough to stay open. Some of the specialty products found in the store will be available in the other Campbell owned properties such as Skinny Pig and World Food Bar.

While I have noticed a reduction of hours and I’m typically the only customer when I do visit, I am surprised by the news. It seemed like a lot of money and work was put into the renovation of their space. I also thought the previous conversation about delivery was a sign business was ok. Unfortunately I guess it was not to be. At least we can still enjoy Josh Campbell’s food creations at Mayberry, Skinny Pig and World Food Bar.

Mari Gallagher presentation

Farming has not completely devoured me.  I’ve been teaching more classes, on nationwide radio twice (!) and I spoke at the 2011 Cincinnati Food Congress (I strongly recommend you check out the full report), which was back in April.

The Food Congress facilitates conversation amongst community leaders and stakeholders regarding the state of our region’s food supply and the impact it has on our population.  This year, the focus was on if/how the local Agricultural Community can contribute employment opportunities to the Greater Cincinnati job pool.  I spoke as part of a panel of local growers… as both an independent contractor on a small-to-medium scale farm, and as a mother.

There are SO MANY THINGS I have to tell you about this, too many for one post.  Bear with me for a little while and I’ll get as much of it out to you as I can.

First, a definition:

Food Desert:  A region where the population does not have ready access to fresh food.  The general consensus for what “ready access,” i.e. – within walking distance, reasonable bike ride, or a single-leg public transit trip (i.e., a bus ride without a transfer).  Keep in mind, food deserts are not necessarily urban.  Many rural communities fall under this classification.

The phenomena of the food desert has been an obsession of mine, and it was also the first topic addressed at the Food Congress.  Mari Gallagher presented some sobering figures illustrating just how bad it has gotten in the region, with the most disturbing point being that the best access to high quality food lies squarely in the suburban areas.  Poor, non-nutrient-rich food choices have been shown to lead to health problems, like obesity and diabetes… which spike higher numbers in the less affluent, more urban areas.

Full disclosure – I live in a fortunate, happy bubble here in Northside, because of Picnic and Pantry, which is arguably one of the best micro markets I have ever been fortunate enough to patronize.  They also source some of their goods from the Farm, as well as a number of other local artisans and growers.  Northside also has one of the most diverse farmer’s markets in the City.  I think this is in no small part due to the community being enthusiastic about their food.  For contrast – my parents, having recently relocated to a more rural part of the state, now have a 30 mile drive to the closest market.  They knew this going in, but how many of us choose our home’s location based on where the closest grocery is?

I’d love to hear about how many of you can / do walk / bike / bus to get your groceries… and how content you are with what you get.  I would also like you to consider what it would be like if that “convenience” store a few blocks from you carried some fresh produce and healthy protein choices, instead of the bevy of processed drek that usually fills the shelves?  Would you buy from them?  Are we, as consumers, too used to “one stop” or destination shopping for a smaller, more locally-based model to work?

Cheers-

Dark Martha

Garden Manager, Carriage House Farm

www.consciousurbanliving.com

If you find yourself in Findlay Market do your taste buds a favor and pay these guys a visit. Just go look at the pictures on their Facebook page, your mouth will be watering in no time.

Hot Tip: If you want a real treat they’ll be at The Famous Neon’s Unplugged Sunday around 5 pm serving Bahn Mi (badass Vietnamese sandwiches), while Cue Cao from Kajun Crawfish serves up one of the only authentic New Orleans style crawfish boils I’ve seen outside of Louisiana. It will be fine evening of food at one of my favorite bars in the Queen City. Evil Uncle Loki rates this one five stars!

The event I originally wrote this for, the Eco Go-Go, featured a fashion show highlighting locally-owned businesses, selling eco-friendly goods and services.  Now a bit about fashion – more specifically, about the phenomena of the fashion season:  Way back, when Louis XIV was trying to figure out a way to help his country’s struggling economy, he put a couple of fairly ingenious things in motion: first, his mercantilist administration significantly slowed the importing all textiles and textile supplies from other countries, to bolster the then-stagnant French textile businesses.  Then the brilliant marketing ploy – they encouraged these floundering fashion houses to market their goods based on the season in which they were intended to be worn.  This concept evolved into the two major fashion seasons – Autumn/Winter and Spring/Summer. This allowed for clothiers to offer the newly-fashion-conscious public new stuff to buy twice a year, effectively doubling their profits and cementing the industry for centuries to come.

I am sure that many of you are in tune enough with fashion do’s and don’ts to be confident in how you dress year round.  Maybe you take great pride in being fashion-forward.  I managed a few retail clothing establishments in my day, I can tell you that there are plenty of people who are brand-loyal and put great importance on who makes the clothes they wear.  I am starting to see a trend of people who are as devoted to the source of their nourishment.  I challenge you to be as discerning with your food.  Maybe you are an avid label-reader at the supermarket, so I think you should also be as curious about where the food is coming from and when that food is in season.  Fact is, locally produced food, enjoyed in season, is of far greater quality than the alternative.

Our country’s current food production paradigm is based on the assumption that transporting food from a handful of fertile places to the rest of the planet will continue to be very cheap.  If our consumption follows its current trajectory – kiss those cheap Chilean sweet peppers and grapes goodbye.   Perhaps the current economic downturn, coupled with the need to seriously back off of our fossil fuel usage and the gaining popularity of the local foods movement will help us find a better balance.  Washington is working to help small-scale, startup urban farmers – to combat “food deserts.” Every day new articles appear about people turning abandoned lots into verdant food-producing oases.  Could this trend be part of the solution for the rampant joblessness in our country??  True, farming is not for everyone.   I have been selling produce from my own modest urban farm at Findlay Market for a little over a month now. Each market day, my sales improve.  Sometimes a person will comment on how my wares are a little “expensive.”  I remind them the food that I’ve grown did not have to be trucked across the continent, nor has it been sprayed with chemicals to hasten ripening or irradiated to retard spoilage.  They still buy my tomatoes.

Cheers -

Dark Martha

www.consciousurbanliving.com

White Fox Farm

During my discussion with Braden, he spoke of all of the interesting places he has traveled to and lived in over the years: an Earthship in the American Southwest, various destinations in India, etc., etc. – so I asked him, “What made you choose Cincinnati?” To which he replied, that other than the fact that his family hails from the region, Cincinnati is a marvelous place to try out a new business.   I can picture many of you vehemently disagreeing with this statement, because at first, I did, too.  You don’t hear about many new Fortune 500 start-ups coming from the Queen City; but Braden pointed out some key factors that make Cincinnati fertile ground for fledgling companies: relatively low property costs, and a berth of different, and often disparate demographics.  I thought back over my own experience with local small businesses, and I had to agree with him.  The last company I worked for started here back in the late 80’s, then expanded into New York City, and now Chicago –one of the things that made that company so very successful and competitive with much larger companies was the small overhead costs associated with their main offices being located here in Cincinnati.

I would like to draw attention to the fact that I was talking to a Permaculture expert about business.  Not too long ago, even the most liberal and free-thinking of my colleagues, myself included, would have dismissed anyone who had lived off the grid in an Earthship as some kind of crunchy granola hippie free-thinker who had no concept of reality or the nitty-gritty of economics.  I here stand corrected.  Braden told me that there are many universities, not just those in California, that are incorporating some of the tenets of Permaculture into their Planning and Sustainability curriculums (Cincinnati State is slowly offering courses, and Braden recently taught a class for UC’s Engineering Department), and we share a hope that the trend will continue.

Braden said that we, as a (Western) Civilization, are slowly leaving our “teenager stage” – we are learning environmental responsibility the hard way: in human terms – that if you drink too much too often, you can’t hold a good job; if you drive your car as fast as it can possibly go all of the time, you are likely to hurt yourself and others, or end up in jail.  Permaculture is a means to think about resource use from a new angle… but what’s funny to me is it isn’t new at all.  Our ancestors lived in harmony with their surroundings (for the most part, anyway), and we are nearing a tipping point in how we use the resources that we have left.  It pleases me that there are people like Braden who are working very hard to modernize these concepts to make them more accessible for the general public. There may be hope for our species yet.

Dark Martha

http://www.consciousurbanliving.com/

I’m not Catholic. I just happen to like fish.

Having been raised in Philadelphia, we grew up with fresh fish, always beautiful and fresh. Not just the bland supermarket varieties like cod and flounder, but the more colorful and flavorful fish such as bass, perch, catfish, and crab, a giant undersea assortment apropos to a big coastal city with scores of fishmongers. On our many vacations to the beaches along the east coast, we learned to fish from piers, crab at my aunt’s house, and collect mussels in the bays not far from my grandmother’s beach house in North Carolina. We’d always eat what we caught.

Five years ago, my partner and I moved from Philadelphia to the much more landlocked Cincinnati. Fish was something jetted into Ohio, or trucked in frozen at best. It was mostly foreign to the region. People didn’t really eat it as much here, vocally announcing their dislike of all things from the sea.  I mostly stayed away from it, wary of its origins, until I discovered good sources. I discovered Cincinnati’s local forms of sustenance, like Skyline and its orange cheese, or Dewey’s with its gourmet but definitely not Italian pizza. Fish wasn’t something I sought out here – it was just wrong to want it in a region so far inland. But I missed fish.

What I didn’t realize was that Cincinnati, so very German Catholic Cincinnati, bites the bullet and eats fish for religious purposes, during a six week period called “Lent”, the six week period we, in our house, also call “Fish Fry Season”.

During my  first year came Lent. Driving around the city, I noticed signs for Fish Fries on many churches, VFW’s, and fire halls. “People actually eat fish here?” I said to my Northern Kentucky-born partner. “Only for religious purposes”, he said, as he explained how each Friday during Lent, Catholics are asked to not eat meat, and since it was a church requirement, many organizations held fish fries as fundraisers. Hmm. “Want to check out the church around the corner tonight for dinner?” “Sure.”

So, my first fish fry was in our neighborhood, and I was, no pun intended, hooked. The commanding Saint Francis De Sales Catholic Church, at the corner of Madison Road and Woodburn Avenue, in East Walnut Hills at what’s commonly referred to as DeSales Corner.  DeSales’ Fish Fry is one of the best in the city, I’ve found.

For its fried fish dinner, DeSales starts with fresh whiting, and hand batters each piece it fries with a corn meal batter. Three or four pieces are served on a platter, with your choice of mac and cheese or fries, all served with cole slaw and your choice of wheat or white bread. It’s plain food but it’s all homemade and there’s a lot of it. The mac and cheese is creamy and cheesy and served from big vats with a crispy top. The cole slaw tastes like my mom’s.

Baked varieties of fish, pizza, or just a “Fish slider” are available as well as the fried dinners. Look for a newer looking school structure sort of behind the church, it’s a busy place. Place your order at the window, and pay, they give you a ticket, go find a seat and listen for your number. When you hear your number, raise your hand and one of the school’s students will deliver your meal. Drinks include canned sodas and coffee and are $.50 extra. Raffles happen on the stage, take a chance on the Split-the-Pot!

The DeSales’ Fish Fry is one of the hidden gems of the city, always delicious and plentiful! We always try to get there at least two times during this six week cycle. The food is consistently good and made fresh each week. We’ve taken many friends there who had no knowledge of fish fries, and they’ve even gone back on their own!

Each week until Easter, my faithful Doug and I will be scoping out the best in Cincinnati fish fries. Tonight? I think we’re going to the West side to St. William for week two. Stay tuned.

Some of my personal favorites:  Kroeger Meats (no affiliation with the supermarket chain), for the tastiest, most interesting sausages in town; Herbs and Spice and Everything Nice, because this fellow KNOWS his spices, and won’t hesitate to let you sniff the quality for yourself; Dojo Gelato for the always-necessary treat for you after a shopping trip well shopped; and the farmers with their myriad of local goods will be coming back soon, some as early as next month!  There are a few of the neighborhood farmer’s markets still churning along, including my own beloved Northside Farmer’s Market (Wednesdays from 4:30 to 7:30 – currently at North Presbyterian on Hamilton Ave.), where I can still get not only locally raised honey, but local fresh eggs, pasture-raised chicken, beef and pork, organic microgreens, even apples… just a few of the things available in the dead of winter. Here is a listing from CORV for the local providers from the 2009/2010 season.

I cannot tell you how excited I get every time I see a fine dining establishment sourcing goods from local farmers… meaning I jump up and down and do a little dance!  The farmer I buy my honey from (Richard Stewart at Carriage House Farm, from North Bend, Ohio) at the Northside market also supplies more than a few of the finer local restaurants, including Chalk and Jean-Ro Bistro.  This past summer, I hooked up a downtown bartender friend of mine with cucumbers and nasturtium flowers from my own home garden for his fancy specialty cocktails.  This is more than just a fad.  Chefs are proud to tell their customers where the food they serve is coming from, and more and more people are finding out just how wonderful that food can be when it hasn’t traveled across the country, or across the planet to get to their plate.  I encourage you to try to buy one foodstuff from a local producer every shopping cycle. You will be pleasantly surprised by the quality and you will be supporting your local economy more so than spending exclusively at a big-box chain retailer.

Dark Martha

http://www.consciousurbanliving.com/